Tuesday, March 03, 2015, 4:47 p.m.

5 killed in West Bank, amid new Gaza truce efforts

By The Associated Press

This article was originally published July 25, 2014 at 9:53 a.m.
Updated July 25, 2014 at 10:57 a.m.

PHOTO BY AP/HATEM MOUSSA

Smoke from an Israeli strike rises over the Gaza Strip on Friday, July 25, 2014. Israeli warplanes struck houses throughout the Gaza Strip as international efforts continue to broker a cease fire in the 18-day-old war.

JERUSALEM — The U.N. chief and the U.S. secretary of state made a new attempt Friday to nail down a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, as Israel’s 18-day military operation in the Gaza Strip fueled new unrest in the West Bank, where five Palestinians were killed during protests.

Also Friday, Israel’s military announced that an Israeli soldier whom Hamas had claimed to have captured in Gaza earlier this week was in fact killed in battle that day.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met twice Friday in Cairo with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri to try to bring a week-long pause in the Israel-Hamas fighting, beginning as soon as this weekend.